Tyre repair company fined £1,000,000 over death of young workman

Watling Tyre Service Limited has been sentenced for safety failings after 21-year-old Matthew Hoare from Canterbury died when a tyre exploded.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how employee Matthew was repairing a puncture to the tyre of a ‘dresser loading shovel’ when the tyre ‘exploded’.

HSE investigators found that Matthew was working on his own with inadequate work equipment which was not properly maintained. He was not trained or competent to undertake the work he was told to complete.

After the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector Mike Walters said:

“Employees need to be provided with properly maintained equipment and the correct equipmentto undertake tasks whilst out on site.

Employees also need to be trained and competent in the tasks they were asked to undertake.”

Watling Tyre Service Limited pleaded guilty, at a previous hearing on 29 January 2016, to breaches of Section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 were today fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £99,485.